I was interested that you decided to include writing an Andoird app as part of the book. Is Java 8 more Android friendly than previous Javas ?

That is indeed interesting, given that the Dalvik VM does not support any of the new Java 8 features or APIs. While that may happen at some point in time, I think it would need a rapprochement between Google and Oracle to happen, and that seems unlikely right now. Would you agree?

I added a double-length chapter on Android to the book because so many people are learning Java specifically to create apps. I wanted to give readers an introduction to app development that's compatible with Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours, which has a new edition that came out last fall.

Java 8 itself doesn't change much in regard to Android, but Android itself has been enhanced since the previous edition of my book.

Ulf Dittmer
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posted May 13, 2014 16:49:21

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Java 8 itself doesn't change much in regard to Android

I wouldn't quite put it that way, given that Android is based on the Java 5 class file format, with some Java 6 API enhancements. But Java 8 introduces several class file format changes (namely in JSR-292, JSR-308 and JSR-335), which Dalvik currently knows nothing about. So any libraries compiled to make use of those will not run on Android. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, one would still have to use "java1.5" as the javac target, so using those Java 8 features is not possible in Android apps.